High Court Strikes Law on Old Sex Crimes

DAVID KRAVETS

Published 8:00 pm, Thursday, June 26, 2003

Associated Press Writer

Convictions will be overturned or pending cases dropped against an estimated 800 accused child molesters in California after the Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot retroactively erase statutes of limitations, the state's top prosecutor says.

The Supreme Court on a 5-4 vote Thursday overturned the nation's only law designed to ensnare molesters who committed their crimes decades ago.

The ruling, California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said, "will allow child molesters to escape prosecution simply because they preyed on our children years ago."

Larry Guzin, a Los Angeles attorney defending about two dozen California priests under investigation for sex abuse, said his clients cannot now be charged.

"Prosecuting people for alleged violations that occurred, at least in one priest case, 50 years ago, is illegal in this country," Guzin said. "Never before has a state gone that far."

The California law was challenged by 72-year-old Marion Stogner, accused of molesting his two daughters when they were children in their home in Antioch, a San Francisco suburb. His prosecution was pending the high court's decision.

The case was closely watched because of sex abuse problems in the Roman Catholic church, but it also has implications for terrorism and other crimes.

Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the court, said the Constitution bars states from revising already expired legal deadlines, which California did in 1994 for molestation cases.

Critics argued it was unfair to change the rules after witnesses are dead and evidence lost. Supporters of deadline changes, including the American Psychological Association, contend that child molesters aren't usually exposed until after statutes of limitations have expired because children are fearful of reporting it or don't know it is a crime.

Stogner's daughter, Margaret Vaughan of Mississippi, said the Supreme Court's ruling made her "feel like I've been molested all over again."

"I was four years old and I'm supposed to know the law on this?" she said. "I didn't even know what was happening to me was wrong."

Stogner, who lives on the Gila River Indian Reservation near Chandler, Ariz., denied the allegations.

"Now I can die happy," he said.

Statutes of limitations vary by state and by crime, in some instances as short as one year for minor wrongdoing to no limit for murder.

Some states have extended their deadlines for filing charges in sex crimes, but California took the exceptional step of retroactively changing the time limit. Charges must be filed within one year after the victims file a police report.

"We believe that this retroactive application of a later-enacted law in unfair," Breyer wrote.

In a dissent, Justice Anthony Kennedy said California should be allowed to punish "serious sex offenses" against children. He was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Dara Cashman, who was Stogner's prosecutor, said she had a good case against him.

"We felt very comfortable and confident with our case," she said.

Stogner, a retired paper plant worker and veteran of the Korean War, was charged in 2001 for alleged molestations that began almost 50 years ago. Stogner's daughters said their father began molesting them when they were younger than five and the abuse went on for years.

Stogner's attorney, Elisa Stewart, said "it would have been a watershed decision" if the court would have allowed Stogner's prosecution.

"A lot of states were geared up for this," she said.

The Bush administration had argued that a ruling against California would threaten the USA Patriot Act, which retroactively withdrew statutes of limitations in terrorism cases involving hijackings, kidnappings, bombings and biological weapons. The Justice Department said it was reviewing the decision.

Russ Heimerich, a California Department of Corrections spokesman, said the department was reviewing the records of its 160,000 prisoners to determine which inmates should get released or reduced sentences.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in a statement, said the court's decision does not allow defrocked priests "to re-enter (the) ministry or to function in any way as priests." Since the Roman Catholic Church became embroiled in a sex abuse scandal last year, more than 300 priests either resigned or retired because of allegations of wrongdoing.